Top 20 Movies of 2023
Full list and reasons: https://viconfilm.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/top-10-movies-of-2023/
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- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsCillian MurphyEmily BluntMatt DamonThe story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb."Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this, he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity."
It's almost laughable to try to say something about Oppenheimer that hasn't already been said. This was the movie that made everyone realize the sheer power/potential of not just the theater-going experience at its best (unattainable with pretty much any home video set-up), but of audiovisual art, period. A musing on annihilation itself, visualized with imagery both grand and sub-atomic in scale; a movie that plays for three hours, yet is edited and scored in such a way that it maintains an intensity that rarely lets up, eventually making our hearts literally pound against our chest as the Trinity bomb, which had already been made a most foreboding "character", is about to detonate; a picture that (and here's arguably the best part) treats us to the first instances of nudity on 35mm IMAX film.
All the while, it treats us to some of the best performances of the year, where even the teensiest side character has a memorable scene wherein the delivery is pitch-perfect and brief glances speak a thousand additional words. Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer is a defining moment in the careers of both Christopher Nolan and the actor. It isn't difficult to see why, for all the soul-shattering visuals that appear in this film, its true spectacle is often said to be the human face. The movie is about something of unthinkable immensity, yet it is also intimate.
I keep re-editing my initial review of it, desperate to do it justice without also accidentally over-selling it. I want to articulate just how much this movie rocked me to the core -- and evidently did the same to many other filmgoers -- without creating the wrong hopes. As I said before, though, almost everything has been said at this point and it's not like the movie needs my help. Innumerable people clearly saw it, many of them realizing/re-learning what sort of filmmaking we COULD get, even in the realm of Hollywood -- Hell, the movie even sold out on Blu-ray in an age where most everyone thought physical media was finito and streaming's where it's at. The response to this movie is already everything I could hope it would be.
I guess I can offer this supplication: Please, keep seeing films like this. Let 2023 be the start of something great. Let this be the art we speak of. - DirectorColm BairéadStarsCarrie CrowleyAndrew BennettCatherine ClinchIn rural Ireland, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer where she blossoms and learns what it is to be loved.You don't need to have been a lonesome Irish girl to relate to the emotions and sense of peace created by The Quiet Girl -- a film that is simultaneously relatable in broader ways (we've all felt as confused, scared, and eventually, at the right moment, comforted as the child of the title) and ways that are more specific to me than its premise would suggest. I may not have grown up in rural Ireland in the 1980s, but I certainly grew up around animals and slurry pits. Moreover, there are scenes here that eerily remind me of waking up to grandma's cooking out in the summerhouse -- as morning-sun shadows danced across the walls -- and of watching the lanterns of passing cruise ships on the horizon with my late grandfather, having his evening cigar one night on Crete.
Much like The Father on my 2021 list (most would agree it's an excellent film, but maybe not the second-best of that year), this is my most personal selection on this list. The Father came to me as my grandparents' health began to rapidly deteriorate in a way that was hard to accept; The Quiet Girl came to me when acceptance was the only option and it was time to remember the good times. Regardless, it is a legitimately skillful film that does a lot with its silent, seemingly uneventful moments and creates a palpably serene atmosphere. I do think everyone should see it, but make sure you use subtitles; the Irish English in this film (although it makes sense for our focal character to not understand it, as she only speaks Irish) takes "indecipherable" to a new level.
I also doubt I am truly alone in relating to some of these images as strongly as I did. When Cait ran after her temporary guardians at the end of the picture, I was reminded not only of running after my own grandparents to give them one more hug whenever we would part ways after a weekend together, but also of the farewells my family was forced to say this year. This time, the car truly left for good.
Oof, that got a bit emotional. Hopefully, the next pick -- my absolute favorite of the year -- is a bit more uplifting and doesn't pontificate mankind's capacity for the very destruction of reality itself: - DirectorWes AndersonStarsJason SchwartzmanScarlett JohanssonTom HanksFollowing a writer on his world famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.What is Asteroid City about? That is exactly what Wes Anderson wants you to ask -- even if it may not really be about anything specific. To some, this is his most alienating, weird, and "artsy" film. (His distinct style has netted accusations of artiness in the past, but his prior movies were a lot more broadly appealing and accessible.) To others, this is the most evocative and moving work he has ever created. Either way, it is one of the most distinctive entries in an already distinctive filmography.
Everything you'd expect from an Anderson picture is here. The precise compositions, the precise color palettes, the precise blocking, the precise mise-en-scène in general, the thoroughly old-school SFX, the "vintage aesthetics" that create the sense of old postcards come to life, and the insanely star-studded cast, including but not limited to Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Willem Dafoe, Stephen Park, Jeffrey Wright, Maya Hawke, Hong Chau, and Steve Carell. More specifically, it is set in a 1950s desert town where stargazing curiosity offsets the anxiety about The Bomb (the town of the title is situated not far from a nuclear testing site). And by "it", I mean the play within the film (or maybe that's "within a TV production").
Clearly, there is something about this movie that hits close to home for a lot of people, including those who didn't grow up in the Atomic Age or even read old sci-fi magazines of that era. Many interpretations suggest Anderson made this film about his own films, musing on the escapism of his big-screen dollhouses. I sort of see it, and hope to see it even better on my next viewing. This is a movie that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I first saw it, and even if not everyone will make the same findings within it, Asteroid City is undoubtedly worth seeing for its performances -- these are some of the funniest and most memorable deliveries of the year -- and its visuals. Also, that weird little stop-motion alien is the best character of the year. Sorry, I don't make the rules. - DirectorCeline SongStarsGreta LeeTeo YooJohn MagaroNora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.It is difficult to imagine that anyone wouldn't relate to Past Lives. Despite sharing few specifics in common with the characters, it left me thinking about choices I've made throughout life, mainly concerning the friends I've lost touch with and would very much like to meet again, but AS the person I am now (if there truly is much of a difference between me then and me now).
Greta Lee and Teo Yoo are absolutely radiant as Nora and Hae Sung, two childhood friends who lose touch when one of them moves from Seoul to New York. Their paths cross 12 years later, and then a second time 12 years after that. Numerous questions arise: Are they different people now? Is their connection the same? When leaving South Korea, eventually coming to call herself "American Korean", did Nora leave herself behind in some sense? How much do we change? Can you truly, fully "know" someone who dreams in a language you don't speak? And is it true, as believers of "In-yeon" say, that those who enter a relationship are souls who have bumped into each other in past lives and are now at the end of their journey?
The movie feels realistic, yet also magical. Some have complained that there's little conflict to the story (notably, Nora's husband is pretty unfazed when she starts hanging out with and almost obsessing over Hae Sung), but to me, that's part of what makes it play (in part) as a fantasy that I'm certain we've all had at some time or another -- wherein that one person, who we didn't get to say farewell to quite in the way we'd hoped, suddenly turns up again. In any case, Past Lives is immensely beautiful, not just in its images. Daniel Howat once tweeted that, considering "the maturity of the themes" and "the layers of the visuals", the fact that this is Celine Song's first movie is nothing less than absurd. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioRobert De NiroLily GladstoneWhen oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one - until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.Is it true what people say? That Killers of the Flower Moon is Martin Scorsese contemplating his own career? That he is telling us something here, not just about the evils of American history, but about the way the filmgoing public has responded to movies (including but not limited to ones directed by him) about said evils? Several 2023 pictures (two of which will appear later in this post) have been read as the director "contemplating his own career", but Killers of the Flower Moon, for reasons I will not spoil here, is one of the more convincing examples.
In any event, Killers of the Flower Moon is masterful like only Scorsese knows how -- from the lifelike performances (Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are as great as ever, but the standout here is undoubtedly Lily Gladstone) to the intricately coordinated tracking shots. It bored me ever so slightly a few times, yet I couldn't in good conscience ask that it be cut down, partly because I do believe the story requires all of these scenes and because one does not simply say that to Thelma Schoomaker.
In my original review, in response to the idea that Scorsese's filmography -- or a good chunk of it -- functions as a timeline of American "toxic masculinity", I wrote this:
"More broadly than that, his films are about sin; it is fitting that his (maybe) final film would go back to the founding sins, complete with a confession scene where Gladstone gets her finest moment". Of course, in reality, I hope Scorsese has more pictures in him and that he sticks around (preferably forever) to stick up for real cinema, but if this is where it ends, it could scarcely have been on a more poignant note. - DirectorJustine TrietStarsSandra HüllerSwann ArlaudMilo Machado-GranerA woman is suspected of murder after her husband's death; their half-blind son faces a moral dilemma as the main witness.Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall, the winner of this year's Palme d'Or, is about as intriguing a courtroom drama/crime mystery as you can get. The film is highly intelligent and particular in what it chooses to reveal to the audience and what to conceal from them.
Never is there absolute certainty of what the truth must be. As the interrogations progress, we learn more and more about the characters and the complicated backstory of the marriage that seems to have ended in a murder. The way the hearings -- via bits of evidence that take us into flashbacks -- serve to characterize the characters is brilliantly done and feels completely natural (nothing is ever revealed in a clunky or contrived manner). These damaged individuals are regarded with honesty; there is no clear villain.
All throughout, the acting is absolutely first-rate. Sandra Hüller (despite the pessimism I expressed when I first wrote about the movie) is, rightfully, on track for an Oscar nomination and, per some people's predictions, possibly a win.
And if you thought Dominic Sessa (Holdovers) and Charles Melton (May December) were considerable breakouts this year, wait until you see Milo Machado Graner in this; it may be the best child performance I have ever seen, which is to say nothing of his canine co-star. Of course, Swann Arlaud as "the hot lawyer" also seems to have inspired a few crushes (understandably so), and Antoine Reinartz's prosecutor character appears to be a new favorite love-to-hate character. - DirectorAlexander PayneStarsPaul GiamattiDa'Vine Joy RandolphDominic SessaA cranky history teacher at a prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a grieving cook and a troubled student who has no place to go.The fact that The Holdovers wasn't released until January in some areas is a damn shame. Here is a movie that more than a few people have said that they'll henceforth be rewatching every Christmas; a film whose tone and vibe were described as being just right for the season. So when a friend learned that the first screening in our country would take place several weeks AFTER Christmas, you can imagine the disappointment.
Fortunately, I'm at liberty to confirm that this is a lovely film. Paul Giamatti being one of the modern titans is of course no surprise, but the true Christmas miracle of The Holdovers comes in the form of young Dominic Sessa. Like the actors in the aforementioned Bottoms, I'd describe him as effortlessly funny, but what's particularly impressive is that he has no prior acting experience; in fact, he's really just a kid who happened to go the school where Alexander Payne and co. were filming.
One of the chief criticisms I've seen against The Holdovers is that it's predictable, which is precisely its appeal. It recalls those cozy holiday pictures of old -- even looking as if it was shot in the 1970s -- and to deride it for seeming familiar is to miss the point. - DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsMinami HamabeRyunosuke KamikiSakura AndôPost war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.In a lot of ways, Godzilla Minus One is a perfect ending to this year in movies -- the year that finally red-pilled most people on how dogshit Hollywood has gotten in recent years. I say this because this $15-million-dollar Japanese monster movie, made at 6% of the cost of Disney's latest Marvel title, looks a thousand times better than it. Of course there are numerous potential explanations for such a discrepancy -- e.g. low Japanese film crew salaries -- but the contrast is considerable even with such elements in mind. I'm forced to steal a quote from @BrettRedacted: "We all know what 'Hollywood Accounting' means but I don’t think we quite understand the scale. This movie radicalized me; Marvel movies are money laundering schemes".
This is a movie that goes back to the roots of the Godzilla (Gojira) character, not only in terms of its geographical and temporal settings (taking place in Tokyo right at the end of World War 2), but also the themes at its center. Produced by Toho, the originators of the franchise, Godzilla Minus One is, I'm told, also the first Japanese-language Godzilla film to feature a 100% CGI version of the titular kaiju (2016's Shin Godzilla did use a suit, despite animating a good chunk of his scenes), and boy does it exceed expectations! Even when you keep in mind that the film doesn't use that many locations, and also that most of the monster action takes place at sea where there aren't any buildings to digitally blow up, it is impressive to behold.
He looks better than the "current" American Godzilla and also looks sufficiently different that I don't think "normies" will confuse it with the Monarch TV show that's also out now or the upcoming Godzilla–Kong reunion -- which seems closer in spirit to the Toho sequels, following up the serious and "heavy" 2014 original with a monster brawl spectacle. If you want the serious Gojira back, in a picture that doubles as a poignant and powerful anti-war drama, this is the one you'll want to see. Getting a monster flick of this caliber is welcome enough as it is, but one in which we're totally okay with seeing humans for a lot of the time (caring about them to the point of wanting to cry when one of them dies) is a rare treat. - DirectorEmma SeligmanStarsRachel SennottAyo EdebiriRuby CruzTwo unpopular queer high-school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.Emma Seligman's Bottoms is beautifully, wonderfully unhinged; a superb call-back to the raunchy teen movies of the 90s and naughties that has oft been described as "a John Hughes plot but with lesbians". There's also a Fight Club homage, some apt use of Avril Lavigne (who, for a lot of people, pretty much personifies the naughties), and also a Bonnie Tyler sequence that I can't even begin to describe.
There is some truly impeccable timing in this film. The way that hilarity comes so naturally to these young actors -- particularly the up-and-comers Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott, who have won countless hearts these past few years -- needs to be studied. All of the characters are quotable and entertaining, from the core crew of female outcasts to the delusional jocks who keep their football gear on at all times, even during intercourse. I wrote in my review that, as much as I rail against sequels and spin-offs, these are characters I'd love to see again, maybe even going on a Scooby-Doo–type adventure.
In addition to the needle drops I've already mentioned, the movie has an electrifying score by Charli XCX and Leo Birenberg. There are a few jokes that don't stick the landing, but I'm prepared to concur with the sentiment that this is "the horniest, bloodiest high school movie of the 21st century". If Selgiman and Sennott keep cooking together, we may soon see another contender. - DirectorMatt JohnsonStarsJay BaruchelGlenn HowertonMatt JohnsonThe story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.BlackBerry begins as a comedy and ends up feeling almost like a horror movie. Of the big "brand origin" movies of the year (see also films like Air and Tetris), BlackBerry is undoubtedly the best, chronicling the development and distribution of the first-ever smartphone, whose fate was so catastrophic that it doesn't surprise me that some youngsters will go "Wait, there was something before the iPhone?"
The movie was directed by one of my favorite filmmakers Matt Johnson, whose specialty is in "pseudo-realism" (Nirvanna the Band the Show) and mockumentaries (Operation Avalanche). While BlackBerry is neither of those, it sometimes exemplifies documentary-like cinematography; often the camera is hand-held and shakey with things intermittently going out of focus, accentuating the intensity and urgency of a story that, from what I've read, was already quite chaotic and stressful.
The imagery is also grainy in a way that makes it convincingly "90s". It is easy to forget that the movie is from 2023, as opposed to having been filmed right as the BlackBerry was being created. Also worth praising are the performances. Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton work perfectly as Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsille, respectively, and of course Johnson himself does a great job in the role of a mad genius who always has movie references handy.
I'm glad to see him get to work on bigger projects with bigger-name actors than before. If all is right with the world, this won't be his last. - DirectorGreta GerwigStarsMargot RobbieRyan GoslingIssa RaeBarbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.EXTRA HONORABLE MENTION
The wildest thing about the live-action Barbie movie isn't how popular it is (that's to be expected from an IP like this), nor is it the fact that it turned out to be so good, nor is it the bizarre "Barbenheimer" meme, nor is it even the climactic "I'm Just Ken" number that Greta Gerwig fought tooth and nail to include; it's the fact that this film, of all things, is the ultimate cinematic Rorschach test of the year.
Interpretations of this movie were many. People on one side complained that it's woke and "leftist" (a spiteful deconstruction of what it "pretends" to adapt). Some on the other side agreed -- approvingly -- while others kvetched that it isn't leftist ENOUGH (settling for liberal "girlboss feminism" that, to paraphrase the criticisms of it, is more about making the rich diverse than getting rid of them). Then, of course, there are the galaxy brains who posit that Barbie is secretly a PARODY of woke messaging (Will Farell's CEO character certainly works as a satire of the performative "corporate" kind, while Sasha wouldn't seem out of place in a spoof of "those darn cancel-culture Zoomers"). Would this mean the movie wants us to agree with the uprising of the Kens and that Ryan Gosling really did give us yet another Sigma grindset icon?
No matter which of these interpretations you subscribe to, the strengths of Barbie are undeniable. It is a film wherein everyone is having the time of their life and Margot Robbie's leading performance is both moving and hilarious. The production design in Barbieland, which truly resembles an enlarged playset, is of course wonderful, but when Barbie finally enters "our" world, things are still zany and a bit exaggerated, both in terms of acting and design -- Mattel's boardroom resembles the war room from Dr. Strangelove with a dash of The Holy Mountain, and its office space is reminiscent of Jaques Tati's Playtime. I said that the film's popularity was to be expected, but Lord knows when I last saw a theater lobby so packed with similarly-clad devotees.
As for where this film stands on Barbie, Ken, women, men, and so on, one of its most legible points is that there's more to all of those things than we will typically allow ourselves to realize (including, I guess, people who saw this movie and took a black-and-white message from it). As close as this movie was to my Top 10, here is the main list: - DirectorKristoffer BorgliStarsKristine Kujath ThorpEirik SætherFanny VaagerIncreasingly overshadowed by her boyfriend's recent rise to fame as a contemporary artist creating sculptures from stolen furniture, Signe hatches a vicious plan to reclaim her rightfully deserved attention within the milieu of Oslo's cultural elite.EXTRA HONORABLE MENTION
Among the movies that fought for the number 10 spot on this listicle, Kristoffer Borgli's Sick of Myself is a Norwegian horror film (if that's a good term) about narcissism at its most destructive. It recalls another great Norwegian film about my generation, 2021's The Worst Person in the World, and while isn't as great as that movie, it is one of the most unnerving movies of the past year.
People might dismiss the story -- where an Olso-based woman named Signe so badly pines for attention that she will make herself sick and infirm -- as a little bit ridiculous. In my original post about the film, I wrote that this is sort of the point, but I also added:
"Some would argue [Signe] isn’t even an exaggerated parody, but a direct adaptation of real-life Millennials; that there is 'always' some element of attention-whoring to those who literally mutilate themselves in real life, or at least the ones whose scars become social media posts ... When Signe finally winds up in a hospital bed, having taken a myriad of illegal drugs and thereby contracted a rare skin disease, her first instinct is to clunkily hasten to a hallway mirror and snap some selfies. We might laugh at how ludicrous that seems — but can all of us say we wouldn’t do the same?" A friend of a friend posted a video of herself crying in an emergency ward a few weeks later. It had CapCut edits and a Lana del Rey song. Sorry, my fellow Millennials. The Norwegians are onto us. - DirectorJoaquim Dos SantosKemp PowersJustin K. ThompsonStarsShameik MooreHailee SteinfeldBrian Tyree HenryMiles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.EXTRA HONORABLE MENTION
When people speak about how 2023 was a dismal year for the once surefire genre of superhero films, Across the Spider-Verse is the big exception they point to. It isn't hard to see why; this movie takes everything that worked/seemed promising about 2018's Into the Spider-Verse and goes all the way -- mainly in terms of its visuals and the sheer number of styles it aims to emulate/give movement and then mix together.
It also has more interesting, even timely themes than the original. The way that it confronts the idea that a true Spider-Man must've lived through this or that "canon event" is just in time for the discourse about how Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) isn't "really" Spider-Man because he's not Peter Parker. Interestingly, the podcast dudes who whine about this don't seem to take much issue with the fact that the mantle of The Flash eventually went from Barry Allen to Wally West and accept both Dick Grayson and Tim Drake as Robin. I wonder what makes Morales so different to these people. Hmm. Could be anything, really.
In my original review, I raved about how the film is a testament to the freedoms of the cinematic art form. Rest assured, the movie is still near the top of my Runners-up list (see below) but a few annoyances prevent me from loving it quite as much in retrospect. Still, it's a gorgeous and exciting film that will please long-time fans, intrigue newcomers, and seemingly also satisfy nerds who have nitpicks about how the MCU handles the Marvel multiverse. Finally, Daniel Pemberton's score is one of the best and most smartly-used of the year. - DirectorMaryna Er GorbachStarsOksana CherkashynaSergey ShadrinOleg ShcherbinaAfter flight MH17 crashes in eastern Ukraine, violent tensions disrupt the lives of an expecting couple living in Donetsk.
- DirectorAri AsterStarsJoaquin PhoenixPatti LuPoneAmy RyanFollowing the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.EXTRA HONORABLE MENTION
While this film didn't make my Top 10 (nor is it strictly superior to some of the other titles on my Runners-up list; ones that I haven't given a blurb here), Beau is Afraid took me on a nightmarish journey worthy of the cinematic masters of dream logic, from the all-out surreal images to the various anxiety-inducers of everyday life exaggerated to a hundred. It's one fever dream after another. In the best possible way, this is the kind of horror movie that makes you want to pinch yourself in the hopes of waking up.
At the center of it all is Joaquin Phoenix, who continues to be one of a kind when it comes to portraying truly pitiful creatures. Is there a point to his suffering here? Possibly not, but according to most readings of this film, and of Ari Aster as a creator, the pointlessness may be the point. As someone who usually fancies so-called "Fuck you" movies, I can respect that.
The movie loses me a bit near the middle, however, and I have a few nitpicks to offer when it comes to certain VFX shots. Still, I felt I had to mention this movie in some capacity. Ari Aster has a masterpiece in him and Beau is Afraid, if nothing else, is another step towards it. - DirectorTodd HaynesStarsNatalie PortmanChris TenzisCharles MeltonTwenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
- DirectorKristoffer BorgliStarsLily BirdNicolas CageJulianne NicholsonAn ordinary family man finds his life turned upside down when strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsCailee SpaenyJacob ElordiAri CohenWhen teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsMichael FassbenderTilda SwintonCharles ParnellAfter a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn't personal.
- DirectorChristopher McQuarrieStarsTom CruiseHayley AtwellVing RhamesEthan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.